The Young Soldier's Mask
by Pepper527
Summary: A young ISA Medic witnesses the terror of combat and the fanatical rage of his enemy for the first time as he carries his first-and possibly his last-mission.
1. Part I

This is going to be the first story I've ever written and published. It was originally just going to be a "practice story" for another one, but I decided to make this one its own standalone series. Please feel free to criticize me in any areas you may find weak.

**NOTE: I DO NOT OWN KILLZONE. IT IS THE PROPERTY OF GUERILLA GAMES AND SONY COMPUTER ENTERTAINMENT** **EUROPE.**

* * *

_**Visari Square, Part I**  
_

_Pyrrhus, Helghan  
November 10, 2359  
Appx. 8300 hours (VST)  
_

"The Higs are comin' in hard and fast! Van Buren, keep up the pressure on our right!"

The sarge's words were barely audible as I sat in my foxhole, paralyzed with fear of the unending hailstorm of bullets. I hastily checked my pockets and pouches for any spare ammo for my M82 assault rifle. Two mags? Good enough. Without thinking, I immediately popped up out of cover and sprayed hundreds of rounds at the Helghast on the horizon.

The Higs were relentless! They came with only one goal in mind: _to kill us_. No matter how much shit we shot, pelted and bombed them with, they just _wouldn't stop coming!_ Just 50 meters across were dozens of ruthless, black-uniformed demons ready to drag us down to Hell with them. Their heavy gear, piercing red-eyed masks and slightly curved helmets reminded me of the malicious Nazi uniforms from the mid-1900's. They relentlessly fired their Sta-52 rifles at us, stopping only to reload every minute or so.

To the left of me was the rest of my squad just as deep in it as I was. Our Tactician, Sgt. Redfield hugged against a crumbling concrete pillar for his life while Marco, one of our Engineers, took cover behind a torn-up truck. My brother Jakob took shelter in a building about 10 meters from my position- lucky bastard. Our Infiltrators Doug and Jordan hid behind the charred ruins of a demolished tank. Of course, I could've just ran from my position and joined my brother in the building... but then I would just get a million tiny bullet holes in me on the way. So I was left to fend for myself in my tiny, filthy foxhole amidst the chaos and terror of war.

As if this shit couldn't get any shittier, Jakob and I are Medics, which meant that we had to risk our likes to make sure the other guys get out of this in one piece. As we held our ground against the endless onslaught of Helghast, we fearfully awaited the inevitable cry of "Medic! Medic!". Luckily, we had pretty decent cover on our side, which reduced the chances of any casualties.

Even better, our squad had two of the greatest Marksmen in the ISA: Privates Andrews and Yoshiro. They both took cover in the third floor of Jakob's building and wore the special ghillie suit of all ISA snipers. Andy and Yoshi were amazing-no... _godly _shots! I swear, they could hit a dime with a BB gun from 100 miles away if they wanted to! The best part- they could turn invisible! I'm not even kidding! They somehow managed to steal whatever device the Helghast made that hides their snipers' bodies from the environment. Needless to say, the two snipers gave the our enemies quite a bit of trouble; they forced the Higs to divide their attention between the armed battalion in front of them and the two marksmen who had full range of the battlefield.

What ultimately saved us, however, was Cpl. Marco Velasquez and his relentless covering fire. His LMG practically breathed fire upon the Higs downrange. Those damned fascists had no choice but to hide away from all that savage gunfire. They were easy pickings for the snipers. Slowly, the ear-splitting gunfire wore down, our enemies were becoming fewer and fewer, and I could see our enemies in a frantic retreat towards the war-torn city behind them.

"Cease fire!" Shouted our squad Tactician, Sgt. James Redfield. "The Higs are buggin' out! Excellent defense, Marines!" We all celebrated our victory, however small it was, and hollered our team's defiant war cry, "Don't dance with the Devils!" (Our squad designation was the ISA 2nd Intruder Squad, but we liked to call ourselves the "Flying Devils".)

"Everybody, regroup!" Sgt. Redfield, a grizzled, war vet who'd survived the war on Vekta four years ago, prepared to give his next orders. "All right, people! We all did great here but we're not our of the woods, yet! He turned his battle-scarred face towards me. "Pvt. Markus!"

"Yes, sir!" I replied.

"I want you and Velasquez to go across the street and see if there's anything the Higs left behind that we could use: weapons, ammo, vehicles- anything you can find!"

Soon after, Jakob's voice broke in, "Permission to go with them, sir? Markus is my younger brother and I just wanna make sure he's all right."

"Negative.", the sarge said in a somber tone. I understand your concerns, but we need to have at least one medic with us in case of future casualties." His face lit up a little. "Besides, he has both his rifle and Marco at his side. I'm sure he'll be all right".

"Understood." Jakob replied before turning to me with a worried look on his face. "Hey Markus? Just be careful."

"I will."

"What you worryin' about so much?" Marco boasted. "You got me, remember? You'll be just fine!"

His reassurrance gave me a small sense of hope for my survival, and with that, me and Marco cautiously headed out into the mass grave that was the Helghast's position.

* * *

_Chapter 1 complete. What do you guys think?_


	2. Part II

_**Visari Square, Part II**_

Velasquez and I casually trudged trough the barren, shelled-out remains of what the Higs called "Visari Square". I remember studying about Helghan civilization back in high school on my home planet, Vekta. According to our textbooks, Helghan was "a barren, desolate wasteland of a planet with a toxic, blackened atmosphere, hostile wildlife, and very little means of sustaining life." In other words, it was a shithole; they couldn't be more right. If it wasn't for the mandatory environment simulations and viral inoculations the ISA puts all trainees through, we probably wouldn't last three seconds on this rock. But even with all that preparation, the planet's caustic atmosphere still burned our lungs every time we breathed it; some of our guys even came down with lung cancer because of it! I couldn't imagine how the Helghast managed to survive here for as long as they did-I guess it was their gas masks that saved them.

As the Corporal and I cautiously humped through the war-torn street, I looked over our surroundings. Our warships were not kind to Phyrrus. Before we came, the Helghan capital was already a miserable collection of tiny, rustic shanties and broken, poorly-lit apartments. Now, it's a neverending labyrinth of shelled out-buildings, crumbling monuments, burning vehicles, and lifeless, bullet-riddled corpses. The city was as quiet as a for the sounds of my nervous breathing and the loud, tentative footsteps Marco and I made, there was nothing but eerie, deathly silence all throughout Visari Square. As I looked at all the damages our invasion caused, I started to get a burning feeling in my stomach. I didn't know what it was, but I felt like I'd just taken a sucker-punch to the gut, and it only grew more intense as we walked. Maybe it was my nagging anxiety of another surprise attack by the enemy. Maybe it was my concern for the safety of my brother and the rest of the squad. Or... maybe it was my guilt over how we've just taken away from the Higs what little they have for a home.

"Damn," Velasquez said, breaking up the painful silence. "Our airstrikes sure did a number on this city."

"Yeah." I hesitantly replied, "The... the whole town's gone to Hell."

The Latino corporal turned his head towards me.

"You all right, kid? It's not like you to be this quiet. You worried about your brother?"

"No, no, Marco. It's not about Jakob, it's just... look at this town. I know it belongs to the Higs and that it's a rusty, broken-down pile of crap, but still: people used to live here! Hell, men, women- people died for this town, however crappy it may be! Also, those men we just killed: all of them had families- mothers, fathers, wives, kids- people who they'll never see again." I started to feel an annoying lump in my throat (God, please don't let me break down in tears in front of Velasquez). "I guess.. what I'm trying to say is, did we do the right thing? Are we right to break into these guys' town, riddle them with bullets, and crap missiles and lasers all over their town?"

The Corporal let out a heavyhearted sigh and pointed his gun downward.

"Well, I understand how you feel, kid. I know you're a rookie, so, this is harder for you to take in than for most of us. However, there's one thing you gotta understand: the Helghast started this war. They brought all this shit upon themselves when they invaded Vekta. All the damage we did to this town is nothing- I repeat:_ nothing_... compared to all the chaos and destruction that Visari's hounds brought upon us! This whole operation is just God's judgment at work. Besides, all the Higs we killed swore to their king Visari that they would 'give up their lives to preserve the Helghast race' or some shit like that. We're just givin' them exactly what they wished for... let's just hope they're all fuckin' happy."

"Yeah", I replied, with nothing more to say. When we finally made our way to the enemy's side of the street, what we saw there damn near stopped my heart! The street was covered-no, _littered_ with dozens of Helghan corpses! The sight was almost unbearable- the Higs's bodies were spread around the ground in gruesome, freakish ways: their torsos and limbs were drilled through by our bullets, their blood literally painted the ground a putrid red beneath them, some of them were even completely decapitated because of a few well-placed shots (definitely Andy and Yoshi's handiwork)! Even the Higs' masks, which used to glow a bright, demonic red had become just as dead and lifeless as their wearers. But, by far, the worst... most horrendous thing about this... the smell. Oh, God... the smell. That horrible, putrid, nauseating smell of rotting corpses all around the street. Imagine the smell of 500 garbage bags combined with the odor of 1200 pounds of roadkill- but worse. I just couldn't stand it; not even my the medical scarf around my face could shield my mouth and nose from this Godawful smell. It nearly caused me to vomit in my own helmet! The whole image was so nauseating, it almost literally froze my mind and put me into a walking coma.

Velasquez, with a worried look on his face, put his hand on my left shoulder and said, ''Markus? Markus! Are you alright? Look, kid, I know you're just a rookie. You've been on this planet for barely one hour and you're not used to seein' this kind of shit before. If you want, I'll scout ahead by myself and you can just sit here and rest. You understand."

I didn't reply. "Kid? Kid, can you here me!?"

Finally, I came to my senses and saw the Corporal reaching out to me. Crap. I did not want to go any further towards that mass grave we'd just created, but I also did not want to shy away from my duties as a soldier. Jakob once told me that a soldier must always be prepared to accomplish any task, no matter how much he despises it. I couldn't let my disgust and horror cause me to neglect my orders and put Cpl. Velasquez at risk. After all, I was a Medic; it's my job to keep him alive.

Still reeling from my traumatized state, I simply said "No. No. I'll stay with you, Marco." I couldn't just look like a coward.

The Latino Corporal let out an uneasy sigh and replied, "All right then. Remember your orders: scout around and look for supplies. Find anything good, we report to Redfield."

"Yes sir." And with that, we followed our orders and began our grave robbing mission. Like Marco said, the Higs wanted to die for their planet- they got it.

* * *

**End of Chapter II. I know this took me a long time to finish. Between going to school and family vacations, I didn't have a lot of time to write. But, no matter! On to chapter III!**


	3. Part III

**Visari Square, Part III**

"All right, kid. I'll scout out ahead past the rubble and search for any vehicles we can use to get off this damn street. Meantime, you stay here and loot these Higs' corpses for weapons and ammo. After all, it's not like they'll need 'em in Hell."

I half-laughed at Velasquez's joke as I began my shameful job of looting the dead. The first Hig body I scoured was a common grunt who'd received three gigantic bullet wounds around his upper torso. No doubt the poor bastard died of massive hemorrhaging and cardiac arrest. Clenched in his right hand was a used, blood-stained StA-52 assault rifle—the Helghast's answer to our M82s. The rifle had a weird, foreign, and really…_ugly_ design, compared to ours. Both rifles had a bullpup design where the ammo is stored in the back. But unlike our M82s, which used the traditional box cartridge, the StA had a weird drum mag stored in the back. Also, the StA's barrel was noticeably shorter than ours, the overall frame was bulkier and worst of all, it used a pitiful iron sight to aim as opposed to our decent holographic ones. Maybe it's just my bias as an ISA grunt, but I wondered how the Higs were able to kill as many of us as they did with such a crappy weapon. Still, I heard from many an ISA vet that the StA is actually not as bad as it looks, and actually saved them at many times when they were left without an M82. "What the heck," I concluded, "anything to get me out of this hell-hole alive." With much effort, I pried the ugly rifle out its owner's literally cold, dead fingers and slung it over my shoulder.

Afterwards, I continued searching more and more soldiers' bodies for…whatever the Hell it was I needed. Okay, to be honest, my "searching" amounted to little more than mindlessly picking a few pockets and pouches for random stuff. Family photos, old MREs, a couple of flash grenades, et cetera. Marco probably did all the real work up ahead.

I would've done more, but my mind was too paralyzed by other things for me to focus. Aside from the crushing guilt of taking part in these men's deaths and looting their bodies, there was another terrifying thought that wouldn't stop haunting me… _**snipers**_. I remember hearing countless horror stories of unlucky ISA vets who were sent to their Maker by those damn Helghast Marksmen during the Invasion of Vekta. They were stone-cold assassins that were trained to wait in the corners of some innocent-looking building and put down any hapless Vektan grunt that got caught in their scopes. One lucky survivor (who probably had an angel protecting him that time) even told me "One bad Hig sniper is worth a hundred good Hig soldiers".

Of course, he used the word "bad" rather loosely, as the Higs are generally experienced grunts who'd survived their defeat on Vekta. Me, I was just a rookie—the wrong guy in the wrong place at the wrong time. Sure, I was decent shot at the Academy, but I've never even _**seen**_ a live Helghast up close, let alone put one down! Those goddamn snipers had caused over 18% of all ISA casualties on Vekta! Even now, I felt like a lost sheep being stalked by the ravenous wolf. I mean, what could _I_, a rookie who's never even killed his first Hig, do against someone who's dealt with death time and time again?

Suddenly, the comlink on my right ear crackled on.

"Hey! Markus! I found somethin' up ahead you're gonna love!"

Thank God. Something else to get my mind worried about.

"Copy that, Corporal! I'm comin' up now!"

I anxiously ran past the two enormous piles of rubble that separated me from Velazquez until I caught up with him. I found him in front of a huge plaza at the end of the street that had few things interesting except for a busted fountain with Visari's statue on top, a dilapidated office building northward, and an abandoned Helghast Tracked APC eastward. Of course, you didn't have to be a genius to know that the only thing Velasquez and I cared about was the APC.

"We're finally gettin' the Hell outta here", He sighed. He just stared at that big steel box as if it was God's chariot come down from Heaven to rescue us. He turned his head towards mine, and even through my helmet, I could see his wide, child-like grin. "That APC looks a little busted up, but give me just ten minutes and I can…" But before he could finish, Marco's huge-ass grin turned into a worried grimace.

I cautiously spoke up. "Marco? What's wro-?"

"GET THE HELL DOWN!"

Just out of nowhere, he grabbed me and forced me down onto the street! Before I could even ask what the Hell had gotten into the Corporal, I heard the ear-shattering crack of a… rifle. Oh, Hell no!

"Sniper!" Velasquez roared above the rifle's report.

That one word was enough to send me into a blood-freezing panic.  
"WHAT!? WHAT THE HELL DID YOU JUST SAY!?"

"I said there's an enemy sniper in one of those buildings ahead!"

Oh, God. A goddamn sniper!? Here!? Now!? After we were **so** close to getting out of here!? I felt my heart desperately pounding its way out of my chest and my lungs heaving in and out every gust of precious oxygen. Velasquez and I cowered behind the fragile concrete debris that served as our cover. Obviously, the sniper was at least 100 meters ahead of us, and he could be hiding in any of the buildings ahead of us. Not to mention the fact that even if we did know where he was… THE BASTARD CAN TURN INVISIBLE! On top of that, if we reveal so much as the top of our heads to him, we might as well just shoot ourselves to save him the was nothing we could do. We were just two lambs at complete mercy of the wolf ahead of us.

The sniper's rifle roared again as it spat out a flaming bullet which tore through a small chunk of our cover.

"Shit!" The tall Corporal growled. "How the Hell could I be so stupid!? Of course he was waiting for us!"

"Waiting for us!?" I demanded, "What are you talking about!?"

"That Hig sniper was waiting for us to find the APC!"

"You mean he was using it as bait!?"

"Exactly! He couldn't get a clear shot past all that wreckage behind us! He needed us in his field of vision!"

"So, what the Hell are we-"  
BOOOOM!  
"What are we gonna do now!?"

"Stay calm, Private! I'm gonna contact Redfield and tell him to bring the sharpshooters!"

He held up his hand to his right ear and shouted, "Sgt. Redfield! This is Velasquez! We've run into trouble; there's a damn Helghast Marksman shooting at us from one of the building in the plaza!" He paused to hear the sarge's reply. "Copy! How soon can they get here!?...We don't have ten minutes, tell 'em to get their asses here sooner! Over!"

"What did Redfield say?"

"He already sent the sharpshooters towards us, but they're takin' too long! They won't get here 'till ten minutes later!"

Marco said "ten minutes" as if it were ten years. "Why?", I replied, "What's wrong with five minutes!?"

"In ten minutes," he snarled, "that sniping son-of-a-bitch is gonna tear down the rest of our cover. We'll be sitting ducks!"

Shit, that was a good point. Our pathetically fragile cover was being worn down with each bullet.  
"Alright. So what's the plan?"

"First thing…" Marco answered, "…is to get _you_ to better cover!" He pointed towards the dark, ruined remains of a Helghan shop right beside the APC about 30 meters northeast. "There! That's where you need to go! Take cover behind that wreckage along the way"

"What about you, Marco!? I can't just let you get killed!"

"You're the Medic, which means that the sniper is gonna mark you as the primary target! I'll stay here and keep him busy while you get to the building!"

I quickly peeked my head over our cover, and _shit_, this was not gonna be easy! Besides the fact that the building was already a good 30 meters away, but the street before it was littered with damaged cars, bomb craters, and shattered building pieces. With all those obstacles ahead of me, that sniper would put me down before I even made 5 meters!

"No way, Marco! I'm not lettin' myself become a walking target!"

All of a sudden, Velasquez gripped me by the front of my jacket and roared, "Listen to me, you can make it, Markus! It's harder for a sniper to catch a moving target! You can outrun him. I promise you, I'll be just fine, and **I WILL** **NOT LET HIM KILL YOU! **Understood?"

"Yes, sir!" I immediately exploded!

"Alright, when I start firing, make your way towards that building!" He paused.

I whispered a prayer that I Velasquez would keep his word and I would not be put down on my first mission.

"Ready, Markus!?"

"Yeah!"

"**COVERING FIRE!**" BLAMBLAMBLAMBLAMBLAM!

Marco's LMG roared furiously at the sniper as I leapt over the pillar and began my mad dash to our cover. I **had** to get to that building! I raced desperately over the rocks and rubble that blocked my path and hid behind the APC to catch my breath. I took a quick look at Marco, standing behind what little cover he had left, and still risking his ammo and his life to hold off that sniper for me.

"God, what a hero." I thought.

BOOOM!

The sniper's ear-piercing bullet harshly reminded me to get my ass to the building ASAP! It was just a few meters ahead now; I gathered up whatever courage I had left and leapt inside the bombed-out sanctuary. When I finally crashed into the tiny haven that was the abandoned store, I gushed an enormous sigh of relief that I'd gotten away. I was safe now—that sniping Hig bastard wouldn't put me down today! I reached up to my comlink and shouted "Corporal! This is Markus! I made it inside the store!"

"Great work, kid!" Velasquez laughed, "I'm heading over to your position now! We'll wait there until our sharpshooters come!"

"Roger that!"

I quickly surveyed my new surroundings. I was in the completely shattered remains of what seemed to be a small Hig grocery store. There wasn't much to look at, other than a pile of toppled store shelves, a floor stained with various rotten food items, and a half-torn propaganda picture with Visari's face on it. The last thing I'd noticed was a small staircase to my right that connected to the other rooms of this building.

All of a sudden…it hit me! I suddenly remembered that all snipers—ISA or Helghast—never travel alone. They always have a spotter or backup sniper follow them and point out targets for them! I also realized that I this whole plaza is surrounded by a big, U-shaped building that the enemy and I now shared! Suddenly, a familiar Australian voice crackled in my left ear.

"This is Andrews! Yoshi and I reached your position! We've taken cover in the 3rd floor of the building southwest of you! Can ya see us!?"

"Yeah!" Marco replied. "I have visual!"

"Copy that, mate! I'm gonna show this red-eyed bastard what _real _snipin's about!"

Immediately, I decided to get in a few words. "Hold on, Andy! This is Van Buren, do you read me!?"

"Loud and clear, mate!"

"Do you or your spotter have visual on the sniper?"

Right away, Yoshi's voice popped up. "Confirmed! He's on the third floor—center face—right side! We got this SOB!"

"Any chance he may have a spotter, too?"

"Of course!"

I took one more look at the staircase and peeked out of the ruined store to catch a glimpse of the sniper's nest. Finally, the next few words I said would set off what would become either the most heroic, or most idiotic, idea I would ever form… "I'm gonna flank him!"

Already, I my idea faced some criticism.

"WHAT!? ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR DAMN MIND!?" Velasquez screamed in my ear (God, his voice is louder than his gun!).

"Just hear me out! While you and the Marksmen keep the Hig busy, I'll go around the staircase and take out his spotter!" That way, with his spotter dead, the sniper would be a sitting duck!"

"…Roger that." Marco reluctantly said. "Just remember—you're gonna have to fight this guy _alone_. Neither I, Andy, or Yoshi can help you, so check all of your gear and make sure you're ready. And one last thing…"

"Yeah, Marco?"

"…Just don't die."

"Roger that." I squeaked, already regretting my decision. I slowly started to feel that sickening sucker-punch feeling in my stomach again, only now it's even more intense. I painfully realized that I—an inexperienced rookie as green as they come—am now going to fight face-to-face with the Helghast. I was going to fight Death itself! As I began my "mission" and headed up the ominous stairway, (which might as well been death row, now), the last thing I'd remembered was the gruesome bodycount of dead Helghast soldiers Marco and I'd passed.

"Oh, God." I whispered to myself. "Am I about to join them?"

To be continued…


End file.
